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In
2005, Akwa Ibom State embarked on a first class
international and Category II airport project in Uyo,
including a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility
for Nigerian, regional, and international aircraft, and the
first of its kind in West Africa. This project was
envisioned to provide significant employment opportunities
for state residents, offer them opportunity to fly in and
out of the state with the need to first travel to Port
Harcourt or Calabar. Subsequently, a feasibility study
commissioned by the state confirmed the economic viability
of the project. The services of DynCorp Int'l LLC, a
US-based company, was therefore retained as the prime
contractor for the construction and completion of the
Category II Airport. DynCorp was selected in large part
because of its assurances that it had the expertise to carry
out the Project and its experience in performing A, B, C,
and D checks for medium-sized and large aircraft, at the
completion which it would invest in and ultimately serve as
the operator of the MRO facility. However, construction of
the project commenced in late 2005 with DynCorp hiring
Nigerian-based sub-contractors to perform the civil works.
Now, in late June, 2008, DynCorp has abruptly abandoned the
project and subsequently informed the state of its contract
termination of the airport and MRO facility. These and other
facts were contained in a statement issued by Engr. Etido
Inyang, Secretary, Airport Implementation Committee. What is
the state government's position on the issue? The Chairman,
Airport Implementation Committee, Air Comdr Idongesit Nkanga
(rtd.) in an exclusive briefing with Paulinus Nnah proffered
an insight into the story. Read on:
Please, Sir, could you tell us the Terms of Reference
for the Committee?
I think he (the Committee Secretary) can give you that…. Ah
let me take you back…, initially in 2006 the former
administration called me in at that time as a technical
adviser. And shortly after that I was the then technical
consultant to them. I was then concerned with the quality of
work that was done. We were not part of the business part of
it. When the idea of building an international airport came,
I was told that we'll take care of maintenance of aircraft
up to 747…, up to C & D Checks, 'cause that's the crux of
it…. When that idea was conceived it was after careful and
serious Feasibility Study, and it was seen to be very viable
within this region. So the need for that airport for what it
was going to do, there's no doubt about that at all. Then,
if you admit something like that, the first thing that will
cross your mind is to identify who will operate it, because
you can't just build a hanger with identifying the operator.
It was even designated a “national hanger”. That's how much
interest the nation showed…. You cannot just build and you
wouldn't have somebody to operate, 'cause anyone you bring
will want to know the name of things to operate. Somehow,
when it was put together at that time I wasn't part of it
then.
The initial error
This company, DynCorp, was everything. If we had an airport
of that status, all they would have done would have been
just to come and concentrate on the MRO, 'cause that was the
basis. But since there was no MRO you now had to build an
airport and the state now asked them to go about and
supervise the whole of the airport. And I think the first
mistake there was that they had never in their life built an
airport, or got involved building an airport.
What should have been done
But then, there are no companies, really, that sits down and
says, all it does would be (to) build an airport in
totality, of this magnitude. You will always find that as
you are building an airport, there is a main area that you
are, you know, versed in. Abuja Airport was built by Julius
Berger, but their own was more of civil works. Because you
are going to see the area of civil works. They are the ones
that would build the runway, maybe taxi ways, build the
terminal building, and that's about it. But you still have
to take experts that will be working on the FA lighting,
putting on the navigational aids and other things. So
usually if you get somebody that comes in and says he's an
expert, its civil works. You could still have to get other
people that…. Lagos (airport) was done by Strabag, and you
know their own is civil works… straight, but they have other
areas.
The ruse
So it was not…. The first mistake was that DynCorp is not in
any of these. So invariably it was going to hire every other
person that does every work there. Of course that was also
shown in the Design Build Agreement (DBA). So whatever was
done, the cost of material, the cost of labour, they were
going to take professional fee of 13% out of that. So they
were just a contractor. Government did that, you know, so
that they can keep them for the operations of the hanger. So
it was okay as of that time. So they did not really bring
any expertise. All the other sub-contractors were hired by
them…. Because if you brought this other person that was a
contractor, you were dealing with him directly, you wouldn't
have to come and pay 13% over that. Then, in the DBA,
because they were afraid of incurring waste…, they did not
want any waste, they now said, we had to be paying three
months in advance so that at the end of it they can use that
to pay the sub-contractors. It was risk-free kind of…. It
was a difficult thing to accept that, so we were still
hanging on to this even when the new administration came,
because of the MRO, because of the hanger. But then they now
came back and told us that they were not going to be part of
the MRO…, the hanger, unless we'll give them our cost plus.
Cost plus means… we buy all the materials, we will hire
somebody to run the MRO and we pay them in percentage. And I
was there when we met with Obasanjo at that time and they
said they were going to invest not less than $5.7m in the
equipment. They went back on that also. So as that point
there was no need again. 'Cause any other person… could go
directly to an MRO operator…. So again we were still hoping
that they'll be able to finish Phase I.
1½ years lagging in completion
Then we realized that this airport was supposed to have been
completed by January last year. So we are eighteen months
behind schedule.
Double cost
The cost of it has gone more than 100%, and the thing was
still open-ended. Which meant we left it for another…. At
this point they told us that, well if we pay this much by
2012. Then we said, don't you have any other thing to do?
And so, it was a way of just…, you know, we were not sure
again whether we could finish this airport at a reasonable
cost.
Need for Committee
So in January this year the Governor in his discomfort, now
set up a committee and said please let people that
understand what is going wrong… advise…. Of course in the
area, you know, in the beginning, people that really had
understanding of what was supposed to have been done were
not there. So DynCorp was the contractor, they were the
accounting officers, they were everything. So whatever they
said they got it. And that was not practicable. So at this
time when the Governor put things in place, they were
beginning to feel uncomfortable, 'cause the money was not
going to come the way they wanted it to. And of course in
the earlier part it was mostly Feasibility Studies and, you
know, the work then was not serious.
Serious business
But at this point, when this administration came, work
started getting serious. So we've seen quality of work and
say this one is not right, this one is not right. And of
course once that happens liability has to be there, you must
talk about liability. And in the course of that, of course,
they were feeling uncomfortable. We had instances of things
like that, that we say this thing is not right, there is a
defect here, there must be limitation, and who takes the
liabilities. We had instances like that and you find out
that they were not very comfortable. At least these were the
reasons why they decided to pack out.
DynCorp's ostensible defense
Of course, if you talk with them (DynCorp) they will tell
you why they packed out. They have not said so (actually).
They would probably tell you that: “Oh payment was not
coming as it should have”. But again even if they present
that paper, the DBA, the paper that…, the agreement we had.
Then if at any point you notice a defect, then you can
actually defer payment until that defect is corrected. So if
I will be arguing (in) that kind of situation and say well,
let us clear this and they were not ready, they just wanted
money to continue coming, and of course that's too bad.
False identity
They are the men you will find out that generally they were
not exactly what they probably said they were. I have to
comment in the capacity as aircraft repairer. Whatever the
reason was for taking them, I don't think they were the most
qualified. Because to start with, I have had meetings with
them, I have never seen where their company is. We had
meetings in the United States, we would go and ask them:
“Where's your company?”, over there. And at a point, they
said that they maintain the (US) President's aircraft, of
America of… airforce I. And I said, “that does not mean
anything”, because the (US) President's fleet might have so
many small tiny aircrafts. But if you are maintaining
airforce I which is a 747 I would say you can maintain a 747
up to C & E checks. I was in charge of the Presidential
Fleet here in Nigeria. We had at that time…, we had up to
about 15 aircrafts. Nobody would know we had that much.
Today probably we had up to about 16/17. But unless you
maintain the highest one there, then you are not…, you know,
it's really nothing…. Well they could fool us with that, and
then where is their facility, then they said it's at Angus
Airforce Base. Angus Airforce Base is where the (US)
President's aircraft is, and I have landed there about five
to six times myself, I have never seen that company. It must
have been too small for me not to notice (laughs). But at
that time, you know, being an air crew, if you land in a
place the first thing is to look for those that can help you
for the maintenance and administration and all that. So if I
couldn't see them, I couldn't use them so I don't understand
where they were. Outside that, where is their facility?
What next?
So those things started being a bit of confusion. …They were
just contractors. But as it is now, what is important for us
is that the airport must be completed as scheduled. At the
point they left, every sub-contractor was in place. So
that's important, because when you say DynCorp left, only
about four of them left. The project manager that was not an
engineer, the contract manager, the account personnel and
one other fellow. All other people were still on ground. You
know Gitto is building the runway, they are still doing it.
Marlom is there, Tidem is there, Nidaco is there…. We have
consultants on ground. Even the site engineer that was
working for DynCorp…, he didn't go with them. And we realize
that sometimes when this sub-contractors, because they have
agreement with somebody, there was nothing between the
government and the sub-contractors. So if you have problem
with them, they'll tell the sub-contractors not to work. And
they will be delaying because the long they stay, the more
money that they make.
DynCorp's stock-in-trade
Just three days ago I was shocked, somebody came, he worked
with these (DynCorp) people, he's a British and he worked
with DynCorp in Iraq. He said up till now they've not even
paid his money. He told us exactly the story of what DynCorp
has been doing.… So they are not new. They're on the
network. They are not new in this business. And I want to
tell you if anybody…, that is why I've taken time to explain
it because of your media house. If somebody comes to tell
you that, oh because government wanted to do this…, this
governor is too kind. I would not have…, I would have thrown
them long time ago. But I think that…, because he didn't
want maybe…, you know, he just wanted to complete. But if
somebody wants to tell you that, oh maybe they wanted some
money, tell him that if this Governor or this government
wanted to make money out of that airport, DynCorp is the
right candidate, because today if you go to the website of
Washington Post, you see that they have done worse than
this. They are being investigated today by the State
Department, United States. They have refunded $14 million,
they have sighted about $2.5 million worth of vehicles
scattered because of the contracts they had and they will
return some. They are still investigating. And they were
seen to be people that were building Olympic-size swimming
pools for VIPs. They were not just the best candidates.… But
if the Governor just wanted to make money, I think they were
the right candidates.
I wonder if the government did not seek the advice from
people like you before contracting the company. Because
being an expert in the aviation industry you must have had
ideas of each company that could have handled a project of
that magnitude.
Well, they did not call my advice. And I don't know of any
aviation person that they sight him advice. I wouldn't
know.… Information available to me doesn't show that they
were really.... They signed an agreement that the Ministry
of Justice was not part of.… And even the commissioner then,
Commissioner for Special Duties, 'cause at last I worked
with him for sometime, said he didn't sign, whether it was
fixed to him. But the important thing was that there was a
business part of it and there was the technical part of it.
Those of in that even came later were not part of it. I
could see the anxiety of government then. You can image
building such a project without a consultant.
Sir, do you foresee any case of indictment on the part of
the previous administration?
Well, I don't know, government has set up a panel of
enquiry. The Governor has said that. It is when that comes
out that we will know.
What was the tune of the contract sum?
It was $125,000.00 without contingent of maybe $133,000.00.
But that has been thrown out of the window….
Thank you very much, Sir.
You are welcome.
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